COVID-19 death - The African Mirror

Jul

2021

COVID-19 knocks out ex-world boxing champ

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER AT his prime, Lehlonolo "Hands of Stone” Ledwaba knocked out many of his opponents on his way to winning three world titles. On Friday, the former champ was knocked out for the count by COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of 60 000 South Africans. Ledwaba (49), who was now a boxing trainer and promoter, passed away as his family was preparing to take him to hospital after he fell ill. His uncle Peter Leopeng said Ledwaba had tested positive for COVID-19 but had initially refused to go to hospital. “When he fell ill he went to…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Tributes for Jabu Mabuza

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER TRIBUTES have poured in for top South African business leader and former chair of Eskom Jabu Mabuza has passed away after a battle with COVID-19. Mabuza (63) passed on at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, where he was being treated after falling ill during a visit to the Maldives. Friends and colleagues of Mabuza took to social media platforms to pay tribute to a man who has run many major businesses in South Africa, including Tsogo Sun and state-owned enterprises such as Telkom. He was also president of Business Unity South Africa and served on the boards…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 kills 32 DRC MPs

COVID-19

THIRTY-two members of parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or about 5% of the total, have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the vice president of the National Assembly said. Even as Congo, like many other African countries, has officially reported relatively few cases and deaths, the virus has rippled through the corridors of power, killing prominent lawmakers and members of the president's entourage. "The latest update announced by the government reports 31,248 confirmed cases and 780 deaths, among them 32 members of parliament," said Jean-Marc Kabund, the first vice president of the lower house of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Congo presidential candidate dies

NEWS

HEREWARD HOLLAND THE main opposition candidate in Congo Republic's presidential election, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, has died while being evacuated for medical treatment, aides said yesterday, as early results from Sunday's vote showed the incumbent in the lead. Kolelas's election campaign had said on Sunday that the 61-year-old former minister was in hospital with COVID-19, which prevented him from casting his own vote. Kolelas had been seen as President Denis Sassou Nguesso's strongest challenger, although diplomats and analysts said there was little doubt the incumbent would win and extend his 36-year rule. Full results are not expected until later this…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 strikes Brazil’s Congress as third senator dies

WORLD

ANTHONY BOADLE A third senator has died of COVID-19 in Brazil, raising questions around precautions taken in the country's Congress where as many as one-in-three lawmakers has been infected with the virus devastating Latin America's largest nation. Senator Major Olimpio, a former policeman who backed and later fell out with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, was declared brain dead on Thursday by doctors at a Sao Paulo hospital where he had been in intensive care for three weeks. The two oldest senators in Congress, aged 87 and 83, also succumbed to COVID-19. But the death of Olimpio, just 58 and the…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Tanzanian politician dies of COVID-19

COVID-19

A senior Tanzanian politician died of COVID-19 yesterday, his party said, adding to concern about a hidden epidemic running rampant in a country that insists it has no local transmission of the disease. The president of Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, announced the death of Zanzibar's first vice president, Seif Sharif Hamad, on television, without saying the cause. But Janeth Rite, deputy secretary for ideology and publicity of Hamad's opposition ACT-Wazalendo party, told Reuters: "He has died of COVID-19." A day earlier, the party's leader, Zitto Kabwe, tweeted: "Denying the truth about the spread of the coronavirus in…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

UK’s special centenarian Captain Tom Moore dies

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and MICHAEL HOLDEN CAPTAIN Tom Moore, the British World War Two veteran who raised millions of pounds for health service workers on the frontline of the battle against the coronavirus, has died aged 100 after contracting COVID-19, his family has announced. Moore struck a chord with locked-down Britain by walking around his garden with the help of a frame to raise 38.9 million pounds ($53 million) for the National Health Service. His endeavour and wit spread joy amid the grim news of the coronavirus outbreak: Moore's message to the world was that the sun would shine again and…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

South African minister’s COVID-19 death unites friends and rivals in tribute

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

KEITH GOTTSCHALK THE death of Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu, Minister in the Office of the President of South Africa, has been met with sorrow across the country. Tributes have come from across the political spectrum for the country’s first government minister to succumb to COVID-19. He was 62. Mthembu’s integrity, dedication to his job and sense of humour explain the response to his death. President Cyril Ramaphosa said: Minister Mthembu was an exemplary leader, an activist and life-long champion of freedom and democracy. He was a much-loved and greatly respected colleague and comrade, whose passing leaves our nation at a loss.…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe’s foreign minister dies after contracting COVID-19

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE’S foreign minister, Sibusiso Moyo, has died after contracting COVID-19, presidential spokesman George Charamba has announced. Moyo, a former army general who announced the military coup that led to the removal of the late long-serving leader Robert Mugabe in November 2017. Moyo died at a local hospital early on Wednesday, Charamba said. "The nation will be kept apprised of further developments regarding this untimely demise of the late minister, himself a decorated soldier and freedom fighter," Charamba said. Moyo was one of several generals who, after helping plot the coup, were rewarded with senior positions in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's cabinet…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

African Union chair pays tribute to the Prime Minister of eSwatini

COVID-19

CYRIL Ramaphosa, the Chair of the African Union and President of South Africa, has paid a warm tribute to Ambrose Dlamini, the Prime Minister of eSwatini who has become the first sitting head of state or government to succumb to COVID-19. Ramaphosa expressed his deep condolences to the government and people of the Kingdom of eSwatini. Dlamini (52) passed away on Sunday, during treatment for COVID-19 in a South African hospital.. Ramaphosa said: “Today, all South Africans and compatriots across our continent bow our heads in sadness at the passing of a leader who took pride in leading and representing…